Transformational coach Sam Munslow shares how she coped with grief by cleaning one window pane at a time, and explains her philosophy: help clients find their own answers rather than copying others. She believes life comes first, work follows, and warns against comparing your insides to someone else's outsides.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner and today I have Sam Munslow with us. She is a transformational coach and she helps people see through stress. So welcome to the show, Sam.
Thank you, great to be here, Tyler.
Of course, great to have you on. We'll dive in. The first question I have for you, Sam, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Okay, so about 12 years ago, I had a bereavement, and I didn't handle it well. I was off work, and one day my husband was going to work, and I took him to one side and said, look, I need to tell you, I'm not coping with this. I'm not getting anything done. In fact, I'm drinking to block out the day. And he said, well, never mind the drinking. He said, let's, let's focus on the getting done. What do you want to do? And I said, I want to clean the windows on the front door. And we had, if you picture, Tyler, we had 9 square panels on the front door, 3-inch panels at the top of the door, and I couldn't get myself to clean them. So he said, okay, all right. And he went to the front door, and on the outside, in the dust and dirt, he just put a little cross there. And he came back and gave me a kiss and said, just clean one. And I looked at that and how can you not clean one 3-inch square? So I cleaned one 3-inch square and then the next one and the next one and then the window frame and the door frame and the stairs and the skirting boards. And what I got from that was one window at a time. You can do anything. You just need that next step.
Yes. Thank you for sharing that. That's an amazing story. And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Okay, so as a coach, my skill isn't in giving information, it's in providing an insight-friendly environment and pointing people to where the real answer is, which is inside them. So that's what I'd give.
And what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
Well, when I first started my business, I spent a lot of time, and I know a lot of people do this as well, looking at the successful people and trying to copy them and trying to be like them. And it took me some time to realize that what I was doing was I was trying to jump on other people's rainbows, so to speak, and I can't find my pot of gold at the end of somebody else's rainbow. So what I would say is look at the shiny bits and find the polish they use, but sit on your own rainbow and you will find your own pot of gold.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
It would be to look back to when you were a toddler. You would fall over and you'd get up. You didn't think, this, this walking thing just isn't for me, I'm just gonna sit. You just carried on getting up until eventually you mastered it, and I think That applies in all aspects of life, so keep getting up and you'll master whatever it is that you need to do.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
I think we get this very much the wrong way around when we say work-life balance. The key to happiness to me is life first, work comes second. Life, I would say family and life come first, put them before everything.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
The best book was a book called The Golfer and the Millionaire and it was written by— I've forgotten his name. Rats. I'll find who it was written by. It's called The Golfer and the Millionaire by Mark Fisher and it's about a golfer's struggle to succeed and he's focusing on what he doesn't want. He doesn't want the ball to go in the water. And so allow yourself— what I got from it was to allow yourself to see the unlimited possibilities that you have in front of you, within you, and you'll enable yourself to get there.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Oh, I love this one. My favorite quote in the world is, "Never make the mistake of comparing the inside of your life with the outside of someone else's." So when I go and visit somebody and I see that their dining room table is their dining room table, as it should be. I'm looking and thinking how tidy and organized they are, when in reality their dining room table probably looks exactly like mine when I don't have visitors, which is covered in bits of Lego and washing. And so if we compare ourselves, the inside of us, to the surface of other people, we are never going to compare ourselves favorably.
Wow, that quote— I've never heard that quote, and that quote is really, really good. Thank you so much, um, for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place people to find you online?
LinkedIn. I am always on LinkedIn. You'll find a plethora of posts from me, and I would love to connect and make new friends on there.
Awesome. Thank you again for coming on. We really appreciate it.
Thank you. Thank you for inviting me.
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